Adjustable paddle-wheel



Z22/anim A955.

N.PETERS. PHOTO-UTMOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON D. C4 y TTE sTATEs PATENT ormcn;

` LEVI M; DEHART, OF' READING, PENNSYLVANIA.

ADJUSTABLE PADDLE-wriiinr..

\ specification or Letters Patent No. 12,621, dated April s, 1855.

To all/whom t mayconcern i Be i knownthat I, LEVI M. DEHART, of Reading, in the'countyof Berks and State M of Pennsylvania, have` invented certain new and useful" .Improvements in Adjustable- Paddle-Wheelsyand I do hereby declare the following to bea full, clear, and exact de` scription of the same, reference being had to lthe"` accompanying drawing, representing a side view of the wheel, with the `interior parts `represented red lines. p

"Ihe nature of my invention consists in providinghollow arms", which are permanentlyfixed to, or a part vof, the hub, into "which hollow farms arefpassed other arms eable arms with a rack, so -that the lattei' arms with their buckets, may be drawn into, or run out ofthelhollow arms, for the purpose of diminishing or `increasing the 3 diameter of the wheel at pleasure.`

RTO enable `others `,skilled in' the art to makeand use my invention, I will proceed j to describe the same,trst stating that, Iam aware several plans of making reefing buckets have been essayed, but mine differs. from this class `of wheels,"inasmuch as by drawing in the buckets toward the center, j' the arms still project, ,and the circumference y of the buckets only, andnot the arms, is, or j can be,` diminished by such plan. Iam also aware that an expanding propeller has been "devised, in wliicli`,as is described, @though imperfectly shown, wings that expanddike a telescope, oropen like shutters,and these wings are run in and out by a rack and pin- `fion at or near the shaft. This plan dilfers from mine as paddle wheels generallydift fer from propellers, and the only thing common to both may be said `to consist in the rack and fpinion, to which I lay no clailn whatever, as it is described `as one of the ordinary eiiicientmeans` of moving or sliding one armwithin the other, any, other means of effectingtheobject may be as readily used. i

Theihub A, andsthsaeonary iliiow the shaft` or aXlisof the wheel. Thiswill 5j". admit of the interior of the hollow arms being planed out, sojthatthe sliding arms may lit snugly therein. An enlargement C, is

left at or near the end of the arms B, in

which is arranged a spur wheel or pinion D, the aXis of each of which may pass through the saidarms to receive a crank or wrench F, by which they may be turned. These spur wheels, being inclosed within the arms, are beyond the reach of injury.

E, are arms fitting within the hollo arms B, and are provided with a rack, into which the pinion D, takes, and by means of the winch F, the arms E, -may be run in and out at pleasure. The eXtreme outer ends of the 'arms E, may terminate in two, three, or more branches G, on each one of which is a bucket I-I. By arranging the buckets in sections on the arms, it eXpedites their adjustment, as several may be thus moved atone time. l/Vhen the arms E, are run in or out to a suitable or desirable distance, they are held in adjustment by a set screw, pin, or bolt, or any other well known lcon'trivance.

If found necessary to brace the buckets, each of the series may b e united by a metallic segmental brace J.

The arms, buckets, Snc., indeed, the entire wheel, may be increased or diminished in number, or diameter, as experience, or the special purpose to which they are to be applied may require. But I have shown the general character of the construction of the wheel wherein the arms move with the buckets, and not the buckets independent of l the arms, as in the ordinary reefing wheels.

Having thus fully described the nature of my invention,I would state that, I am aware that reeling buckets on paddle wheels have been used, and that an expanding propeller has also been essayed, in which the wings have been drawntoward the center, or run out, by meansof racks and pinions, these I do not claim, but

What I do claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is j In combination with the hollow arms pervmanently fixed to the hub, the arms carrying the sections of the buckets, when said `arms are so arranged as to be slid within `the hollow arms by a rack and pinion or its equivalent, substantially in the manner, and for the purpose herein set forth. 

